1968 Elvis Presley’s 26th film ‘Stay Away Joe’, received its premiere in America.

1971 The Rolling Stones played their final UKconcert before becoming French-based tax exiles.

1981 Eric Clapton was hospitalised in America and forced to cancel his four month tour, after a serious attack of bleeding ulcers- while in the UK Roxy Music reached No. 1 with John Lennon’s ‘Jealous Guy’ recorded as a tribute to him.

1985 Tina Turner played at Wembley.

1987 The Beatles had the top 4 slots on the CD charts.

Sport

1992 Jimmy White won the European snooker championship with a nine-three win over Mark Johnston-Allen in Tongeren, Belgium.

1992 Spanish golfer Jose Rivero won the Catalan Open.

1992 Sprinter Linford Christie secured victory in the sixty metres at the Great Britain v USA indoor international in Birmingham, only 100th of a second ahead of compatriot, Jason Livingstone.

1992 In the Barclays League Division One, Manchester United beat Sheffield United two-one, Leeds beat Wimbledon five-one and Arsenal beat West Ham United two-nil.

People & Showbiz

1885 ‘The Mikado’ by Gilbert and Sullivan was first performed at the Savoy Theatre in London.

1964 In Dallas, Texas, Jack Ruby was sentenced to death for killing Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of President J.F. Kennedy

1991 Red Nose day number three was all set for a bumper day on the 15th with 9.3 million noses on offer, plus 500,000 larger ones for cars. Comic Relief had raised more than £45 million in five years.

General Events

1489 Catherine Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus, sold her kingdom to Venice. She was the last of the Lusignan dynasty.

1889 German Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his “Navigable Balloon”

1945 Grand Slam, the heaviest bomb of World War II, weighing 22,000 pounds, was dropped by the RAF on Bielefeld railway viaduct, Germany.

1984 Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams was shot three times and injured by loyalist gunmen while he was being driven from Belfast City Hall.

1991 The Birmingham Six, Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Hill, Richard McIlkenny, Gerald Hunter, William Power and John Walker, convicted of the Birmingham pub bombings in 1974 were released after a successful appeal, having already served sixteen years in jail.